ftaIn a society increasingly education-based, having millions of boys smashing each other's heads from a very young age on-wearing helmets that were designed for adults and weigh more than helmets designed for children would-just cannot be good.

Notabunny:fta In a society increasingly education-based, having millions of boys smashing each other's heads from a very young age on-wearing helmets that were designed for adults and weigh more than helmets designed for children would-just cannot be good.

And the NFL could stop encouraging little kids to sign up for tackle-good for the league's fan base and equipment sales, bad for little kids - and only promote flag football, which is a lot of fun. Eli and Peyton Manning did not put on pads and helmets until age 13. Neither should anyone else.

Olympic Trolling Judge:ThatGuyFromTheInternet: So just feed 'em ritalin and HFCS, keep them inside in front of the TV, and asssume they'll develop stength and determination and character elsewhere.

Or, and this is just a crazy idea I had, maybe enroll them in sports that don't require their tiny skulls to be smacked around relentlessly?

Oh please, the Mommy brigades would have problem with those too. Remember, kids used to play out in the woods, unsupervised, with real pocket knives and sometimes pellet guns. This slope is already quite slippery.

Activities I took part in during my youth that resulted in a (probable or actual) concussion in order of prevalence:

Playing with friends/neighborhood kids (no particular sport)

SoccerHockey (all forms - never played organized hockey)BaseballSkiing (cross country and downhill)

Activities I took part in during my adulthood that resulted in a (probably or actual) concussion in order of prevalence:

DrinkingConcertsReading FarkOffice job

If you live your life and do so outside the confines of your helicopter mother, you're going to get a concussion or a few...they make for some good stories that are missing some vital details but are good stories none the less. Show me someone who hasn't had a concussion and I'll show you someone who is lacking in life experience. Concussions are a part of life; I'm not saying they are good but if you let your kids play sports, they're going to eventually get a head injury. If you don't, they may not get a head injury but they are going to miss out on a lot of the good parts of playing sports.

/Never had a diagnosed concussion//At least not that I remember///You can't spell Funcussion without FUN

Well, I was thinking it was called the Volvo effect, but it's not. What's the term for people driving worse because they feel they're wrapped in safety systems? It's what happens when you play rugby with lots of padding and call it football as well. You can strike the other player with your padded shoulder and not worry about injuring yourself. They're not protective gear like helmets and pads worn by skaters, which are for accidents. You don those shoulder pads intending to shove them into people at speed.

Six diagnosed concussions for me, probably four more. Never played a snap.

The peewee league kids probably watch NFL and have been equally inundated with the concussions being worse than 9/11 news (after watching "Jacked Up" and 200hrs of other NFL greatest hits videos). They know.

Don't want to clog up the thread with people quoting other people but a big part of what may save football, especially at the youth level is an emphasis on proper tackling technique and a shift away from the traditional "Put a hat on 'im" school of defensive coaching. It would be impossible to eliminate the possibility of helmet to helmet hits in football but a shift toward wrapping the runner up with your arms versus just pointing your head toward their head and trying to knock out the ball carrier would make huge strides in terms of letting kids play football and learning how to play the right way. Obviously there will still be concussions at all levels but hopefully there will be a lot less of them...As for pro football and pro sports in general it comes down to what a lot of people have been saying for a while now...if you know the risks and are willing to accept the payoff that's why it's pro sports...you're getting paid a bunch of money because you're very good at what you do and you're risking your short and long term health in exchange for the ability to make a bunch of money in a small amount of time compared to your average cube farm job.

Fer shur. One minute they're enjoying the game, next minute they're lying twisted and broken on the pavement six stories below because they were drunk and leaned just a teensy bit too far over the "safety" rail.

wildcardjack:Well, I was thinking it was called the Volvo effect, but it's not. What's the term for people driving worse because they feel they're wrapped in safety systems?

I'm not sure what the term is but it's a real phenomenon...it's one of the nuances of violence in hockey since the advent of helmets and specifically facemasks led to an increase in players feeling invincible. It used to be that back in the day players kept their stick down out of either common courtesy or a fear of what would happen if they didn't; now they run around high sticking cats in the face and not thinking twice about it. Growing up playing hockey we didn't wear helmets and it was generally accepted that you kept your stick low because it was a dick move to high stick someone and that you might have to pay for it if you did...that and if someone got hurt enough to stop playing the game was over and that wasn't for the benefit of anyone.That being said I also grew up playing sports for coaches who wanted to win the game but were also concerned about never developing a reputation for having soft teams...there was more than one game where the other team would try to goon it up a bit and would find out really fast that we weren't nearly as concerned about the score as they were.

I know it would be prohibitively expensive, but wearing full face motorcycle helmets would probably eliminate the concussions. I used to play hockey and I was very surprised at how thing one of the newer helmets was. It had been since 1999 since I've played and this was a few years ago.

I got my first concussion standing innocently at a concert--and not even a punk rock concert. It was some New Wave glam rock band, and I got hit by a stray shoe flying through the air. When i was 19.

Yesterday, my 3d nephew came in with a big cut over his eye. Turns out he and his buds have been playing a game over in the church parking lot which involves them throwing rocks at each other and he "got in the way" of at least one. This is the same child who has been playing lacrosse, soccer, football, baseball, riding skateboards, motorcycling since he was 3...never been injured in any way. But gets in the way of a thrown rock.

This "Gregg Easterbrook" guy is a huge vagina. I played "tackle" football from 5th grade to my sophomore year in high school. I thought tackling and hurting other people was fun. This guy obviously didn't make the team when he was a youngling.

orangehat:wildcardjack: Well, I was thinking it was called the Volvo effect, but it's not. What's the term for people driving worse because they feel they're wrapped in safety systems?

I'm not sure what the term is but it's a real phenomenon...it's one of the nuances of violence in hockey since the advent of helmets and specifically facemasks led to an increase in players feeling invincible. It used to be that back in the day players kept their stick down out of either common courtesy or a fear of what would happen if they didn't; now they run around high sticking cats in the face and not thinking twice about it. Growing up playing hockey we didn't wear helmets and it was generally accepted that you kept your stick low because it was a dick move to high stick someone and that you might have to pay for it if you did...that and if someone got hurt enough to stop playing the game was over and that wasn't for the benefit of anyone.

The same thing is true of a lot of martial arts and combat sports where they let people 'go at it' with lots of pads. At first blush it doesn't make sense. But after a while one realizes that people are much more inclined to take risks and well as accept repeated damage when they think they are protected.

Getting fat while sitting on the sofa eating more calories than you use is "the most dangerous thing you can let your children enjoy". That and shards o glass pops.Oh and unprotected sex with intravenous drug users.Base jumping is probably not so good for your kids either.And why would I listen to these rocket surgeons. What would they know, one week bacon greaseconstant low level concussion is bad for you, the next week we're not getting enough of it.

I got my first concussion standing innocently at a concert--and not even a punk rock concert. It was some New Wave glam rock band, and I got hit by a stray shoe flying through the air. When i was 19.

Yesterday, my 3d nephew came in with a big cut over his eye. Turns out he and his buds have been playing a game over in the church parking lot which involves them throwing rocks at each other and he "got in the way" of at least one. This is the same child who has been playing lacrosse, soccer, football, baseball, riding skateboards, motorcycling since he was 3...never been injured in any way. But gets in the way of a thrown rock.

I got my first concussion standing innocently at a concert--and not even a punk rock concert. It was some New Wave glam rock band, and I got hit by a stray shoe flying through the air. When i was 19.

Yesterday, my 3d nephew came in with a big cut over his eye. Turns out he and his buds have been playing a game over in the church parking lot which involves them throwing rocks at each other and he "got in the way" of at least one. This is the same child who has been playing lacrosse, soccer, football, baseball, riding skateboards, motorcycling since he was 3...never been injured in any way. But gets in the way of a thrown rock.